It’s simply impossible to get around in an African country without a car! I’m ready to debunk another myth about the lack of an eventful trip without a car.
Let me start with the conclusion: Morocco has an excellent public transport network!
And now in more detail.
Our 10-day itinerary involved almost daily travel between cities.
We only spent two nights in Fes and Agadir, but that doesn’t mean we were sitting still these days.
Trains to Morocco
I can’t say that trains run throughout the country, but it is quite possible to travel between major cities.
From Casablanca to Fes or Marrakech, from Fes to Tangier and from Tangier to Casablanca. And, of course, almost all routes pass through the capital – Rabat.
We only used intercity rail transport once – from Casablanca to Tangier. The distance between them is about 300 km. However, we only spent 2 hours on the road.
The main trains between cities are decent and relatively new high-speed trains. Here’s Africa for you.
You can view the train schedule on the official website ONCF.ma.
In Europe, it didn’t open for me before I left, I thought it was a matter of location, but in Morocco it didn’t work for me either.
If you find yourself in this situation, feel free to go to the website supratours.ma. This is something like a subsidiary of the railways, the prices here are no different from the official ones.
This is important, because when I was looking for tickets, I came across agency websites several times, and I was honestly wondering why public transportation is so expensive in Morocco?
You can buy tickets on these sites (ONCF, supratours).
We had it, but we were in no hurry to buy it, we didn’t know how long we would be walking in Casablanca and when we would get to the train station.
So we bought tickets at the box office. The price was the same as on the website, except that there were only first-class tickets left for the nearest train, and they cost 150 dirhams more.
We decided not to overpay and wait an hour for the next train.
Based on my own experience, I can say that it is possible to buy tickets every day.
There are probably some exceptions or popular dates, but in general, it’s possible.
Our ticket cost 246 dirhams. Not cheap.
I don’t know what’s in first class, but everything in second class was decent: wide soft seats, chargers, luggage racks, toilet, monitors, tables. Everything is clean and nice. The train has two floors.
The modern train stations surprised me. At least in Casablanca and Tangier.
In these cities, they are more like airport departure lounges. There are popular chain cafes like McDonald’s and Starbucks, perfume and clothing stores, and a few places to eat, but they were closed, unlike the chain ones.
In Tangier, there are palm trees and a swimming pool with a fountain in the waiting room. Beautiful!
We also had to use local transport.
There is a train from Kasa to the airport, it runs every hour and the journey takes only 35 minutes. Fast, convenient, inexpensive. Outside, the cars have seen little life, but inside, nothing, similar to our suburban trains.
Buses in Morocco
Almost the entire route depended on buses.
They already run throughout the country, unlike trains. Morocco’s bus network is extensive, you can get to almost any city, and not just the big ones.
We didn’t buy tickets in advance either. We always went by our gut feeling 😅. We looked at the schedule, figured out a convenient time for us, woke up in the morning, made plans, and bought tickets.
Here the website of a large bus carrier, the STM company, came to our aid.
We only took these buses, although we saw a few others at the station.
Maybe it’s cheaper elsewhere, I don’t know the details, as well as the company websites. STM was completely satisfied with both the time and the condition of the transport.
We bought tickets online using a foreign card, but again, you can buy tickets at the box office for cash and on the day.
On all our numerous trips, the buses were half-empty. So, we occupied two seats each, and our journey became even more comfortable.
I’ll write down the duration of the journeys and the cost of tickets for our route for information, in case anyone wants to repeat it, or to roughly plan a budget.
Bus prices in Morocco
Tangier – Chefchaouen – 2.10 min. (65 dirhams)
Chefchaouen – Fez – 4 hours (120 dirhams)
Marrakech – Agadir – 3 hours (120 dirhams)
Agadir – Legzira – 3 hours (86 dirhams)
Sidi Ifni – Agadir – 4 hours (86 dirhams)
Agadir – Es-Saweira – 3 hours (95 dirhams)
Essaouira – Casablanca – 5.5 hours (190 dirhams).
The price is for one ticket.
In general, the moves weren’t that long, and time flew by pretty quickly.
The buses are comfortable, large, the backs recline, and there are USB charging points, although they don’t work everywhere.
There were intermediate stops on all routes where you could get out and stretch.
Bus stations are not as fancy as train stations. But they have a roof, seats, and even a toilet, although you have to pay for it.
And sometimes there’s Wi-Fi, which can’t help but please people without this card, like us 😃.
The buses almost always left and arrived at their destination on time. There were, of course, a couple of exceptions related to Ramadan, but if there are no force majeure on the road, then in principle you can calculate the arrival time.
Only on the last trip did we decide not to take the risk and leave earlier. We were still going to the airport, we didn’t want to be late.
How else to get around Morocco?
Near the bus stations there are parking lots for the so-called Grand Taxi.
These are small minivans that run all over Morocco. Something like a collective taxi or minibus.
The driver or bus picks up several people traveling in the same direction. It costs more than a regular bus, but it goes a little faster.
We didn’t use this method of transportation, so I don’t know the details.
But if it happens that the bus tickets at the box office suddenly run out, then know that there is an alternative!
Excursions in Morocco
An easy way to change your location is to go on a tour!
Some travel agencies offer to pick you up from one city, bring you to another, but not return you, but take you to the next one. This is very convenient so as not to waste time.
In our case, we were picked up in Fes, taken on a tour of the Sahara Desert (near the city of Merzouga), and the very next day, after spending the night in a camp, we were taken to Marrakech.
The path is not close, whether to Fes or Marrakesh, it was very successful in saving time.
Taxi in Morocco
Within the cities we moved either on foot or by taxi.
Except for the cost of a taxi to/from the airport, taxi prices in the city are affordable. On average, a trip of up to 5 kilometers costs 20-30 dirhams.
Moreover, taxis were mostly caught on the street. There are quite a few of them, catching them is not a problem. We always discussed a fixed amount, no one cheated, no one demanded more than agreed.
It’s easy to spot a taxi in a traffic jam; in every city it has its own color:
Casablanca – red
Tangier – turquoise
Chefchaouen – of course, blue
Fes – boards
Marrakech – beige
Agadir – orange
Don’t be surprised if the driver picks up someone else or stops when there is already a passenger in the car.
This is a normal Moroccan practice. So what if someone is in the way 😅.
We used the Indrive app several times , the price is about the same as on the street, but sometimes there were difficulties with the location and waiting time, so hailing a taxi turned out to be easier for us.
They didn’t understand public transport within cities .
From my observations, it seems like there aren’t that many of them, or maybe none at all. I won’t lie, I haven’t encountered any, except for the tram in Casablanca, I haven’t seen any regular buses and especially trolleybuses.
How to get around Morocco?
Well, I already made a summary first, everything is great with intercity public transport in Morocco!
So, if for some reason you didn’t succeed in renting a car, this is not a reason to cancel or shorten your route, there are always options!